Kolkata Knight Riders opt to bowl against Punjab Kings in a new venue at Ahmedabad. Punjab Kings would be relieved at halting their three-match losing streak but it's not like they have solved their issues. There is an obvious over-reliance on KL Rahul whose own batting tempo has been under the scanner. Chris Gayle has blown hot and cold while Nicholas Pooran has failed to get going till now.
A lot will be expected of these two, and Moises Henriques. The change in pitch conditions forced Punjab Kings to bring in Chris Jordan in place of Fabien Allen. On paper, KKR have some of the biggest names going around, particularly in their batting department but they are yet to click. Morgan has decided to back his players as his side has opted for an uchanged squad after losing to Rajasthan Royals. KKR has just got a solitary win from five games so far, and as the team looks down the barrel today its a big game for the squad going in the second half of the tournament.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
